Hearts & Spades

With a twist of his wrist the engine fell silent. Jack stepped out of his car, eyes scanning over the house that he'd come to know so well. He approached the front porch, inhaling the cold December air before knocking rhythmically against the wood surface before him. A wide grin was painted on Jack's features as he awaited an answer. However, the face that stood behind the open door was not the one he was expecting. His expression quickly shifted, his complexion becoming pale.

"Morning, Mr. Gaskarth. Is Alex home?" he questioned after swallowing the lump in his throat. Jack must have sounded like a toddler asking if his friend could come out to play, but if he was being honest, the short and stout man intimidated him. Alex's mother was a totally different story, she was a sweet and adorable woman who reminded him of his own mother. Mr. Gaskarth only seemed to be on edge, ready to strike if Jack managed to make one wrong move.

The balding man stood to the side, not saying a word as the teen's lanky figure slipped inside his home. "Alexander! Your boyfriend is here." he called up the stairs, the emotion in his words nearly impossible to detect - which only made the whole atmosphere appear more tense. That was until another voice replied, embarrassed and high pitch, causing Jack's smile to return.
"Dad!"

"He's in his room, go on up." he puffed, turning to move past Jack and disappear into the living room.

He ruffled his dark hair, clutching the charm of his necklace before trotting up the stairs. The door at the end of the hall was closed, childishly scribbled letters reading 'Alexander William' were sketched into the wood. That must have been his room for years, Jack could just picture the brunette at seven or eight, marking his name into his door with a proud dimpled grin.

"Jack! Don't you know how to knock?" escaped a squeal as he barged in uninvited. Alex's thick eyebrows were bunched together, his frail arms attempting to hide his bare chest.

"What? It's not like you're naked. Plus, I'm your boyfriend now." Jack retorted cheekily.

"Are you ever going to stop with that word? I should have never agreed."

"You're embarrassed of me, aren't you?" the elder asked, faking a frown and letting his gaze fall to his feet.

"What?! No, no! Of course not, it's just... I never really had a boyfriend before, or a relationship for that matter, it's weird."

Jack hummed in suspicion as he turned towards the cracked closet, ignoring the obviously confused look on the other's face.

"What are you doing?"

"Grabbing you a change of clothes, we've got a busy day."

"I can dress myself you know..."

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to lend a hand." He paused his actions to turn back and send a wink in Alex's direction, chuckling as the younger's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

There was no arguing with Jack, he was a stubborn bastard. So, Alex remained motionless as his boyfriend approached him with various shirts, holding it in front of his frame before spinning around to grab a different garment.

"Holy shit!"

"...What?"

"How come I've never seen you wear this?" Jack exclaimed, looking between the boy and the plaid top in his hands, only getting a shrug in response. "You're wearing this."

The taller of the two reached out and tried prying Alex's arms away from his chest. "W-what are you doing!?"

"What, are you not planning on getting dressed today?"

"It's not that... you know how I feel about people seeing me shirtless..." his voice faded into a near whisper. After their little incident before the Halloween party Jack could have sworn Alex would have been over his insecurity.

"Alex." he chirped, his tone more playful than serious yet the other's eyes stayed frozen on the ground. "I respect that you don't like your scar, and if you want me to leave the room, I will." Jack began, deciding that he couldn't pin the boy down every time he refused to take his shirt off. "However, I want you to know that I'm never going to judge you."

His voice was soft and sincere, causing the butterflies in Alex's stomach to go berzerk. A sigh escaped his lips before his arms fell to his sides, he really needed to stop being such a push over but Jack had that effect on him.

The elder, however, was gleaming with pride as he handed over the top and waited for Alex to slip his arms through the sleeves.



The two sat in comfortable silence, the only noise filling the void was the sound of the wheels of the car against the pavement. Alex let his eyes venture away from the window for a moment only to land on Jack's hand, which was resting on the arm rest between them. His large knuckles were scabbed over in a way Alex couldn't believe he hadn't noticed earlier.

The shaggy haired boy reached over and ran his fingers over the injuries on the other's skin. "You hurt yourself..." he commented, a small hint of sadness lingering in his tone.

"Huh?" Jack asked, confused on what he could be possibly talking about until a sharp pain came from his hand. "Oh, that. Trust me, that hurt Zack more than it hurt me."

Though, that explanation didn't rid Alex of his frown. His small fingers laced with Jack's, but he didn't look at him, instead he starred at their hands seemingly lost in thought.

"Why are you so set on protecting me?"

It was a reasonable question, one that had been sitting in the back of the younger's head for a while now. Jack had even taken to driving Alex to his doctor appointments. No matter how much he insisted that the raven haired boy should stay in the car or go for a drive he'd come with him anyway. Jack would sit next to him while the doctor explained to Alex what was happening inside his body, it was always good news, thank goodness. Although, every time Jack didn't understand a medical term or phrase he'd look helplessly in his boyfriend's direction for clarification that everything would be okay. It was as if he didn't want to sit back and watch the same heart die twice.

When the driver opened his mouth, he didn't quite answer the question presented to him, yet his response left Alex speechless.

"I'll always protect you."



The two were walking along a string of small shops, hands still intertwined. Their hushed voices as they spoke amongst themselves still caused swirling puffs of fog. Jack wasn't sure why he thought of this, strolling through a bunch of old shops with no real destination. However, he could tell by Alex's wide eyes that he'd never been in this part of town and was enjoying it to his heart's content.

Suddenly Jack felt himself being tugged to the side, he let out a small yelp before staring accusingly in the younger boy's direction. Alex had his face nearly pressed against the glass of one of the many windows, his dimpled grin only growing.

"I've always wanted to go into an antique shop..." he muttered, almost to himself.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go." the dark haired teen chuckled at the other's childlike excitement before tugging him along.

A bell chimed once the door was pushed open, a strong sent hitting them the moment they stepped inside. "It smells like my grandma's house in here." Jack commented, nose scrunching up in disgust.

Alex on the other hand, wasn't paying any attention to the boy next to him, his gaze was too busy exploring their new surroundings.

"Anything I can help you boys with?" came a feeble voice from behind the counter, a frail elderly woman was standing behind the cash register with a soft smile on her face.

"Oh no, me and my beautiful boyfriend here are just browsing." Jack's confession seemed to grab Alex's attention once and for all. His mouth fell open before he tightened his grip on his hand, nearly darting behind a corner. The taller of the two was caught off guard and nearly plummeted face first into the hardwood floor.

"Alex what the hel-" before he could truly protest the boy in question grabbed two fist fulls of his sweatshirt and pulled his face towards his own. Jack's almond eyes grew large before a small pair of lips was pressed harshly against his own.

Jack sucked in a deep breath before relaxing against the embrace, his boyfriend was going to need a few lessons in kissing considering the pressure was almost too much to bear, however for right now he was just going to enjoy it. Enjoy their first real sober kiss, and the best part was he wasn't the one who started it.

Eventually Alex fell back so he was standing flat on his feet, the older of the two blinked quickly before shooting him a confused look. "What was that for?"

"No one's ever called me beautiful before." he admitted, his voice soft and barely recognizable. It made Jack's heart sink, he was such an adorable, charming guy, how could no one see that?

Before he could say anything else Alex was walking off towards the shelves filled with different knick knacks and old toys. Jack was left to stand there dumbfounded, still slightly in shock and dealing with racing thoughts. He let out a loud sigh, taking a gander around before a porcelain doll caught his attention. Long wavy brunette locks framed it's freckled face and small green eyes. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest at the sight of it.

Jack's mind became flooded with images of Bethany's laughing face, his annoyed scowl and the way she said his name...the way she said his name...

"Jack! Come here and look at this!"

Suddenly everything went black, his head, seemingly rebooting before the heart wrenching imagery was replaced with something else... a button nose and large dimples, two huge puppy dog eyes - Alex. The way he always stared at the ground, how he twirled his hair around his fingers as he grew tired...

"Jaaack, come on!"

He shook his head quickly, returning to the real world and headed in the direction of the shouts. Alex was standing there, staring at something that was just out of Jack's field of vision. The elder, wrapped his arms around the other's waist, resting his chin on the top of his head.

Alex was holding a small wooden box, his fingers tracing the patterns along the top hesitantly, as if he was afraid it would shatter in his hands. "A... box?" Jack questioned unsurely.

That must have been the wrong choice of words considering Alex jabbed his elbow sharply into Jack's rips. "Nooo, not just any box. It's a music box" with that he lifted the lid, and a soft melody filled the air. The large mirror now exposed, reflected the two of them, closely pressed against each other. Jack seemed confused while Alex on the other hand was grinning like a fool and...and singing?

'You are my sunshine', now he knows why the tune seemed so familiar. Though that is not what had him speechless. Instead, it was the soft voice singing along. "Alex, you never told me you could sing!"

As soon as the words left his lips the box was slammed shut. The brunette wiggled out of Jack's grasp and walked off. He didn't manage to get a good look at his face so he had no idea if he had managed to hit a nerve or not. Before running after Alex he checked the price tag on the wooden box. Eighty bucks, eighty bucks that he did not have. At least not at the moment. Jack checked around him to see if anyone was watching, then pushed through the other survivors on the shelf, hiding the music box behind them. He'd come back when he had the cash, and hopefully it'd still be there.

Once he turned the corner he spotted his partner in crime digging through the old hats, and placing one on his head playfully. "Wow, Lex, that's really sexy." he teased causing Alex to spin around, face ablaze. Luckily he didn't seem upset about his secret talent being noticed.
"What about this one?" the shorter of the two swapped out for a dusty black fedora that made Jack cringe.

"Please get rid of that." he insisted, searching the walls before he found an eerie looking mask. Geez, people were really weird back in the day weren't they? "Come here Alex, give me a kiss." Jack demanded once he had slipped it on, turning around to look at his boyfriend got him a fearful squeal in response.

"Jack, get away from me, that's so creepy." he giggled, pressing his hands against the other's firm chest as he came closer. "Ah! Stop!"

But Jack ignored his pleas and continued to make loud kissing noises. Once their noses were inches apart, Alex lifted the mask away from the other's face. At this angle Jack could see the fading black and purple bruise on his boyfriend's cheek. The raven haired boy tilted his head to press a kiss on his injury, but Alex was much quicker and moved so their lips collided instead.

Jack had no idea where this confidence came from but he was not about to start complaining. Sharing a few sweet pecks every now and then would be nice, especially now that knew he wasn't pressuring Alex in any way. As Jack pulled away two arms wrapped around his neck and forced him back down.

Alex felt the other begin to smile and he did the same, fingers fiddling mindlessly with the short hair on the back of Jack's head. And he could have gotten lost forever in the elder's touch and the peaceful surrounds, the ticking of old grandfather clocks, that is if it wasn't for the sound of someone clearing their throat.

The boys pulled apart hastily only to see the dainty shop owner laughing to herself. The brunette lowered his head, he could feel Jack's eyes on him and he wasn't quite ready to face what he had just done.

"Let's get out of here." he suggested, grabbing Alex's hand and leading him through the maze of shelves and old fashioned couches. The floorboards creaked under their weight as they both wore a devious grin.

Once outside, they were suddenly thrown back into the real world, the pavement was full of people carrying bags and rushing from point A to point B.

"So, what was that all about, huh?"

Alex wasn't going to answer that question, and the seventeen year old was well aware of that. However, he could never get sick of those dimpled cheeks shifting to a pale pink color. The younger shrugged his shoulders before gently bumping into the other playfully.

"Hey... uh, Jack?"

"What's up?" he replied, raising a brow and lowering his gaze to meet Alex's.

"Do you, um, do you think we could maybe do something like this again sometime?"

Jack let go of his small hand, getting a whimper of confusion and protest that only ceased when he moved his hand to Alex's hip instead. "Yeah, sure. How does tomorrow sound?"